IN THIS COURSE, THE BASIC CONCEPTS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF AGENTS WILL BEADDRESSED, AND A SYSTEMATIC COMPOSITIONAL DESIGN METHODOLOGY FOR MULTI-AGENSYSTEMS WILL BE PRESENTED.

COURSE MATERIAL AND INSTRUCTIONS ARE IN ENGLISH.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS COURSE, PLEASE SEND IN ANREGISTRATION FORM BEFORE THE FIRST OF FEBRUARY.

DETAILED COURSE CONTENTS========================

CAN BE FOUND AT HTTP://WWW.CS.VU.NL/~WAI/DEMAS

AIM OF THE COURSE=================

IN THIS COURSE, PARTICIPANTS LEARN TO CONSTRUCT TRANSPARENT,STRUCTURED CONCEPTUAL DESIGNS OF MULTI-AGENT SYSTEMS, TO SPECIFYCONCEPTUAL AND DETAILED DESIGNS, AND TO TRANSFORM SPECIFICATIONS INTOIMPLEMENTATIONS. IN ADDITION, PARTICIPANTS LEARN TO USE GRAPHICALTOOLS DESIGNED TO SUPPORT MODELLING, SPECIFICATION, IMPLEMENTATION ANDTESTING OF MULTI-AGENT SYSTEMS.

COURSE FEE AND REGISTRATION===========================

THE COURSE FEE IS NLG 2500 (WHICH IS APPROXIMATELY 1135 EURO, ANDNLG 1 IS APPROXIMATELY USD 0.46 AS OF JANUARY, 2000). SEE, E.G.,HTTP://WWW.ABNAMRO.NL/IBS/VALUTACENTRUM/INDEXFRAME#ACTUEELFOR THE LATEST RATES. THE FORM SHOULD BE RETURNED BEFORE MARCH 31, 2000.A 50% REDUCTION IS AVAILABLE FOR A RESTRICTED NUMBER OF PH.D. STUDENTS.THE TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS IS LIMITED.THE VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT AMSTERDAM RESERVES THE RIGHT TOCANCEL OR POSTPONE THE COURSE.

IN ADDITION TO THE GENERAL STUDENT SELECTION CRITERIA DEFINED BY NORFA(IN REGARDS TO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN, ETC.) THE TOPIC OF THE COURSE SHOULDOCCUPY A SIGNIFICANT POSITION IN THE PHD OR POST-DOCTORATE STUDIES ORSTUDY PLANS OF THE PARTICIPANTS. THE NUMBER OF STUDENT PARTICIPANTS WILLBE RESTRICTED TO 24.

FOR THE FUNDING AGENCY, NORFA, AND THEIR GENERAL STUDENT SELECTIONCRITERIA, SEE HTTP://WWW.NORFA.NO (THE 2000 BROCHURE IS EXPECTED TOAPPEAR ON THIS SITE IN JANUARY 2000).

THE FULL-LENGTH PROCEEDINGS WILL BE PUBLISHED AS A VOLUME IN THE STUDIESOF LANGUAGES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF JOENSUU (FINLAND).

APPLICATION PROCEDURE: SEND A FREE-FORM APPLICATION TO THE RESPONSIBLEORGANIZER BY MARCH 3, 2000.PLEASE ENCLOSE A ONE-PAGE CV AND A 2 TO 5 PAGE SUMMARY OF YOUR RESEARCHINTERESTS RELATED TO THE TOPIC OF THE COURSE. FOR ADDITIONALINFORMATION, PLEASE CONSULT THE RESPONSIBLE ORGANIZER.